President Trump tweeted this afternoon that he will be making a “major announcement” tomorrow from the White House concerning the ongoing government shutdown, and a bipartisan number of lawmakers hope he is not declaring an emergency.
Trump wrote in a brief message that the announcement would concern the “Humanitarian Crisis on our Southern Border” and the shutdown.
I will be making a major announcement concerning the Humanitarian Crisis on our Southern Border, and the Shutdown, tomorrow afternoon at 3 P.M., live from the @WhiteHouse.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2019
The message raises the possibility that Trump is planning to declare a national emergency to circumvent Congress and win funding for his wall — while ending the partial government shutdown at the same time.
Declaring a national emergency could give Trump the ability to use the military to build the wall instead of getting Congress to approve funding for it.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, a veteran Republican from Iowa, warned the president that he will be setting “a bad precedent.”
“I believe you’re going to find it in the courts almost immediately, and the courts are going to make a decision” said Grassley. “The president is threatening emergency action, a national emergency declaration. I don’t think he should do that. I think it’s a bad precedent. And it contravenes the power of the purse that comes from the elected representatives of the people.”
Trump wants about $5.7 billion for border security, including about 234 miles of new barriers.
Democrats, who now control the House, have refused to allocate any money that goes to the building of any more walls or fences along the U.S. southern border.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that a national emergency declaration by Trump could create a slippery slope.
“If today, the national emergency is border security, tomorrow the national emergency might be climate change,” said Rubio, pointing out that future Democratic presidents may be inclined to declare their own emergencies.
Other prominent Republicans have expressed alarm that Trump might try to divert funds from disaster-recovery projects in places such as Texas and use it to build the border wall.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said he vigorously opposed using any of the money that had been appropriated by Congress to clean up damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
“We worked very hard to make sure that the victims of Hurricane Harvey, their concerns are addressed and Texas is able to rebuild. And I think we are all together on that,” Cornyn said.
GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said that declaring a national emergency “would be a mistake” and that members have communicated that Trump in a number of ways.
“Frankly, I’m not crazy about going down that path,” Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranked Republican in the chamber, said this week. “Inevitably, I suspect it probably gets challenged in court.”
Trump’s lawyers have also privately warned the president he could be on shaky footing with an emergency declaration, according to people familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private White House communications.
A key ally to Trump, however, called on him to use emergency powers to fund the border wall’s construction.
“It is time for President Trump to use emergency powers to fund the construction of a border wall/barrier,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in a statement.